And The Gods Wept
by Saklani
Summary: A strange alien stumbles upon the remains of DS9. What happened to the inhabitants?


And the Gods Wept  
by Saklani  
DS9, TNG, VOY  
rated G  
Disclaimer: Paraborg owns the characters, but they would never do   
with them what I will. I make no money from this, probably couldn't,   
even if I wanted to. I just like having fun!  
Archive- sure, just tell me  
feedback- rmkent@ucdavis.edu  
Author's Notes: This story came to me intact. I have never had that happen before. It's a little sentimental and paints an ideal portrait of the Federation. I love feedback, especially compliments!   
However, I do want constructive criticism. Enjoy!  
  
And the God's Wept  
by Saklani  
  
  
Corpses littered planets, starships, stations.  
  
Jean-Luc Picard, Spock, Skrain Dukat.....  
  
None were safe from death.  
  
Jake Sisko, Tom Paris, Corat Damar.....  
  
Not the Good.  
  
Kathryn Janeway, Benjamin Sisko, Beverly Crusher.....  
  
Nor the Evil.  
  
Luther Sloan, Adami Winn, Weyoun.....  
  
Enemies fell.  
  
The Founders, The Borg, The Jem'Hadar.....  
  
So did Allies.  
  
The Klingons, The Romulans, The Federation.....  
  
No one could stop it.  
  
Julian Bashir, Deanna Troi, Odo.....  
  
Nothing could be done.  
  
Harry Kim, Elim Garak, Worf.....  
  
It overran the universe.  
  
William Riker, Neelix, Kira Nerys.....  
  
Individuals fell.  
  
Tuvok, Miles O'Brien, Martok.....  
  
Then, planets.  
  
Bajor, Cardassia, Earth.......  
  
Entire species vanished.  
  
Vulcans, Ferengi, Trill.....  
  
Vanquished by the Maddening.  
  
B'Elanna Torres, Quark, Seven.....  
  
Rivers of blood flowed.  
  
Jadzia Dax, Chakotay, Geordi LaForge.....  
  
Oceans.  
  
Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma.....  
  
Until there was nobody left to bleed.  
  
  
And the Gods wept.  
  
**********  
  
Tahemonya'ka spotted the structure purely by chance. It orbited a   
dead planet, surrounded by countless other dead planets. The space   
station was ancient, but scans indicated its structural integrity was   
sound. Someone had built it well. There were also no detectable   
traps, but she did pick up an indication of a still operable power   
source. The perfect place to hide.  
  
**********  
  
Tahemonya'ka carefully followed her instruments' instructions on how   
to provide minimum power to the station's systems. No sense using   
full power and chance being discovered. It was rather unlikely   
because few ships bothered to come near this vast expanse of lifeless   
rocks. Still, in her universe, you couldn't be too careful.  
  
**********  
  
She walked down long, faintly illuminated corridors, often tracking   
through piles of dust. Tahemonya'ka realized, disgustedly, that they   
were the remains of the station's long deceased residents, but even   
this revelation did not dampen her happiness at finding this haven.  
  
Curious, she entered one of the doors and managed to light the rooms.   
They were like a shrine to someone long dead. Strange articles   
decorated the walls and shelves. She had never seen such things, not   
anywhere. The inhabitants of her universe possessed few luxuries.  
  
A picture drew her attention. Tahemonya'ka picked it up with one   
tentacle and held it close to her single, puce eye. She studied the   
strange creatures intently. They possessed two eyes, a mouth full of   
white things, dark brown skin, a strange head-covering and odd limbs.   
They were disgusting!  
  
*Who are you?* she wondered, *What happened to you?*  
  
**********  
  
Tahemonya'ka's wonder grew as she continued to explore. There had   
been many different species living here, apparently working and   
playing together. Some of them even had families together! In her   
universe, you didn't trust your own family, let alone other species!   
Everyone was out for themselves, and they went to any length to get   
what they wanted.  
  
  
While the Gods wept.  
  
**********  
  
She finally found a suitable place to inhabit and diverted all power   
to it. Her new home consisted of several rooms, a large computer   
station and her choice of many beds. There were strange machines   
scattered about, but no personal items. This had not been someone's   
quarters.  
  
Tahemonya'ka had felt odd about living in one of their homes. The   
idea seemed wrong. Spooky, even. Hers were strange thoughts for   
someone in this universe. Nobody bothered with inconsequential things   
like fantasy, religion, superstition or fiction here.  
  
She explored the rooms and found a small office. It was simply   
furnished, only a table and chair occupied the space. A screen, in   
the middle of the table, caught her attention. Fiddling around with   
the controls, she caused the screen to light up. One of the   
creatures appeared on it, gesturing and speaking at a  
great rate.  
  
It, for Tahemonya'ka had no way of determining gender, was a member   
of the smooth skinned species. It did not have any bumps, ridges,   
spots or other markings. The creature's skin was caramel, eyes a   
striking hazel, and the  
head-covering was brown. The noises it made were soothing, and she   
felt herself relaxing.  
  
Studying the screen, she realized the creature had made the recording   
in this very room. It had been sitting in the oddly shaped chair,   
which was obviously made for its body, recording its words on the   
computer. The image captured  
some of the organism's life and energy, and Tahemonya'ka wouldn't   
have been surprised to see the being enter the room at any moment.  
  
Still watching, she attempted to settle herself into the chair.   
Squirming around, Tahemonya'ka finally found a comfortable position,   
draping her seven tentacles off the chair's sides. She felt a great   
sense of contentment settle  
over her, although the recording of a long-dead, ugly creature was   
her only companion in a vast, lonely universe.  
  
**********  
  
For perhaps the twentieth time, Tahemonya'ka played the last   
recording from Deep Space Nine. Over her two Earth year occupation of   
the station, she had learned to speak and understand Standard. She   
watched all the station's logs and came to regard the former   
residents as friends.  
  
The first recordings were the best, full of hope and excitement.   
Many wonderful things had happened, during the first years of Bajor's   
freedom and Starfleet's occupation of the station. The war brought   
sadness, but the overall tone was  
still one of hope.  
  
Then, the Maddening.  
  
Tahemonya'ka watched as her friends sickened and died. She saw   
Dr.Bashir's desperation and depression, as he lost patient after   
patient. His descriptions of their deaths made her sick. The   
Maddening ate away at a person's innards, and death was marked by   
uncontrollable bleeding from every orifice.  
  
And the disease had spread so fast. Nothing could stop it. Air   
filters, force fields, sanitary cleansings, isolation rooms, all were   
ineffective. Soon, everyone had contracted it.  
  
Fewer and fewer logs were made towards the end. Those that were   
available, Tahemonya'ka found painful to watch. Especially   
Dr.Bashir's logs.  
  
Despite his rapidly advancing infection, he worked endlessly to find   
a cure. He dutifully updated the listing of the dead, which grew   
longer every day. But, he refused to give up. While others lay down   
to die, Julian kept working. In his last few logs, Dr. Bashir was so   
wasted by the Maddening that he was unbearable to look at.  
  
The station's final log was made by its last Commander, Jadzia Dax.   
She looked horrible, a combination of disease and sorrow destroying   
her beauty. As she spoke, her voice quavered, "Today, Dr. Julian   
Bashir finally succumbed to the Maddening. With him, went the last of   
my hope. I have lost everyone that I love. Worf, Benjamin, Julian,   
Nerys, Miles, Jake, Quark- all of them are dead. Everywhere, whole   
planets are going extinct. Soon, they will be nothing left of the   
Federation or the Klingons or Romulans or most everyone else.  
  
Knowing this, I have decided to make no further logs. What is the   
point? The things I left unsaid to those I love, I cannot make up   
for now. There is nothing left to say, except that we few who remain   
will soon be dead. There is nothing left to do, but wonder why. Why   
has this happened to us?"  
  
With a final sob, Jadzia ended the recording. The screen went black.  
  
  
And the Gods wept.  
  
**********  
  
Tahemonya'ka read everything she could find about the Maddening. All   
the research, every case history, the logs of those who had it and   
talked about the experience. Everything. Her insides were a tangle   
of sorrow, determination  
and rage. Rage at the Maddening, rage at the creatures who inhabited   
her universe, rage at the unfairness of it all.  
  
They had died, and the creatures of her universe had risen as a   
result. The beliefs of so many of the extinct peoples- love,   
compassion, honor, duty, sacrifice, peace- did not exist   
here.Replacing them were hatred, greed, jealousy, distrust and war.  
  
The Federation, who tried to make freedom possible for everybody, did   
not exist in this 'new' universe. There was nobody to beat back the   
oppressor's, defend the weak, protect the innocent, aid the needy or   
expound the virtues of  
harmony and kindness. This was a universe without pity, without   
nobility, without remorse, without conscience.....  
  
This was Hell.  
  
But, perhaps, it did not need to be so. Tahemonya'ka determined to   
accomplish what so many scientists had failed to do; she was going to   
find a cure to the Maddening. Then, she could reverse this terrible   
mistake.  
  
It had to be a mistake. Not even blind fate would wipe out good   
people and replace them with monsters. And that's what her universe   
was populated with, monsters.  
  
Here, murder was a mainstay of life. New wars erupted everyday,   
every minute. Life was cheap because everyone hated everyone else.   
Those who possessed feelings spent their lives in miserable, lonely   
exile. Or died at the hands  
of others.  
  
  
While the Gods wept.  
  
**********  
  
Some ten thousand years in the past, a strange, unmanned ship   
slung-shot around Bajor's sun and headed for Deep Space Nine. It   
contained three things. Proof of the Maddening's deadly affects, in   
the form of Deep Space Nine's  
future logs. A history of the universe, if the Maddening was not   
stopped. And a cure. Dr.Bashir, recently diagnosed with the   
disease, tested the drug on himself.  
  
It worked.  
  
**********  
  
Dr. Julian Bashir stood in front of the huge audience. His speech   
was being broadcast everywhere, just as the cure for the Maddening   
was arriving at the far corners of the universe. This was a moment   
of galactic unity.  
  
"Before I begin my talk about the Maddening, I wish to say a few   
words about the woman who made our continued existence possible.   
Tahemonya'ka was a lonely, tortured soul, living in an unkind and   
unforgiving universe. Through her work and from her blood came the   
cure that saved us all. The work and blood of a person who will   
never exist.  
  
"Tahemonya'ka gave up her life, indeed her universe, for us. She   
wanted the principles of peace, love, compassion and all that is good   
and noble to survive. In her universe, they were virtually unknown.   
Fortunately for us, they  
existed in her.  
  
"I challenge all of you, as well as myself, to live up to her belief   
in us. May we be worthy of her sacrifice."  
  
The crowd stood and roared its approval. Everywhere, people stood,   
applauded and cheered. The universe thundered with their noise.  
  
  
And the Gods rejoiced.  
  
  
THE END


End file.
